The 

Old Town -House 

of Boston. 




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Old Town -House 

of Boston. 







Here tJie child Ittdependence was born. — John Adams. 

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: 
18S3. 



ri'D 






In BbLQh. 

WyULo, QX. ^i^^i^. Q^trc,, 

THE 
SECOND EDITION. 



THE 

OLD T O V/ N - H O U S E 

OF BOSTON. 



This ancient structure, familiarly known as the 
Old State House, standing at the head of State 
Street in the metropolis of New England, and for 
many years devoted to the uses of commerce, has 
lately been re-dedicated to public purposes. The 
city of Boston having in its municipal councils 
determined upon the preservation of the renowned 
building, has caused the restoration, to as nearly 
as possible their original condition, of the ancient 
Council Chamber and Representatives' Hall of 
the Provincial period. A brief glance at the his- 
tory of this venei-able spot, so closely associated 
with the patriotic memories of Colonial Boston, 
will justify the claim that these time-honored 
walls, which witnessed many scenes of stirring 
action in the early days, are destined to take 
their place by the side of Faneuil Hall and the 
Old South, as most prominent among the his- 
torical buildings in the land. 

From the infant days of the struggling Puritan 
settlement, gathered upon the Peninsula of Shaw- 
mut, nestling in the low land lying between 
Beacon, Fort and Copp's Hills, and following 
the water line of the Town Dock, now covered 
by the present Quincy Market and streets abut- 



ting upon it even farther inland, this site has 
been one of central interest. Here, upon land 
now forming the present corner of State and 
Devonshire streets, the fathers of early Boston 
consecrated with prayer and psalm their first relig- 
ious edifice, and it was here, also, that first they 
held their deliberations upon the conduct of their 
temporal affairs. As early as 1634, according to an 
unquestionable authority, a parcel of ground defin- 
itely recognized and described in the Book of Pos- 
sessions, under date of eleven years later, was set 
apart as a market place. This estate, the area 
of which has never been curtailed or widened, 
is to-day intact, enclosed within the walls of the 
Old State House. 

To this purpose, then, was devoted " the ground 
reserved for public uses," until, in 1656, died 
Captain Robert Keayne, a well known, wealthy 
and eccentric citizen of that day, who by his will 
left, "the sum of three hundred pounds, current 
money," which was to be expended for the public 
interest ; or to quote the phraseology of the ancient 
record : " For building a conduit and a market 
place, with some convenient room or two for the 
Courts to meet in, both in summer and winter, 
and so for the Townsmen and Commissioners in 
the same building or the like, and a convenient 
room for a library or a gallery or some other 
handsome room for the elders to meet in ; like- 
wise a room for an armory." Acting in accord- 
ance with its provisions, the plans for " the modell 
of the towne-house to bee built " were referred at 
at a public meeting in 1657 to a committee of citi- 
zens, and the result was the erection of the first 
structui-e upon the site, which was of wood. 



This first Town-house stood from 1658 to 17 11, 
when it was destroyed by fire. Here presided 
the Royal Governors John Endicott, Richard 
Bellingham, John Leverett, Simon Bradstreet, Sir 
Edmmid Andros, Sir William Phipps, William 
Stoughton, Richard, Earl of Bellomont, and Joseph 
Dudley. The initiatory steps for the erection of 
its successor were taken by the Selectmen of 
Boston, upon the 17th of October following, when 
that body formally petitioned the Legislature upon 
the subject of its rebuilding. As a result, a joint 
committee of twelve was appointed by that body, 
who recommended, according to the record, that " a 
new house be built in or near where the old 
Town-house stood, the charge thereof to be borne, 
the one half by the Province, the other half by 
the Town of Boston and County of Suffolk in 
equal proportion." Such was the order for the 
present building, the dimensions of which were 
formally prescribed by Legislative enactment to 
b "not more than one hundred and twelve or 
less than one hundred and ten feet in length," 
and it was further specified under date of Nov. 
17, 1712, that "the Committee fit the East Cham- 
ber for the Use of his Excellency the Gover- 
nour, and the Honourable the Council." Here, 
from 17 13 to 1747, held gubernatorial sway, 
Joseph Dudley, William Tailer* Samuel Shute, 
William Dtimmer* William Burnet, Jonathan 
Belcher, and William Shirley. 



♦Note. — Tailer and Dummer were Lieutenant Governors, 
filling vacancies until a new Governor should be formally ap- 
pointed. 



Thus were erected, one hundred and seventy 
years ago, the brick walls of the Old Town- 
house, which to-day, an interesting and curious 
fragment of Colonial Boston, looks down upon 
modern State Street, wherein remains no other 
relic of the ancient time. The notable fire of 
Dec. 9, 1747, greatly ravaged its interior, destroy- 
ing many valuable records and documents de- 
posited for safe keeping in the Council Chamber. 
The damage to the building, however, was repaired 
in the course of the following year, and the interior 
restored substantially as before. Capt. Francis 
Goelet, in his journal {See N. E. Hist Gen. Reg- 
ister, j8jo), thus describes it, as it stood in 1750: 
"They have also a Towne-House, built of brick,, 
situated in King's (the present State) street. It's 
a very Grand Brick Building, Arch'd all Round, 
and Two Storie Heigh, Sashed above ; its Lower 
Part is always open, designed as a Change, tho 
the Merchants in Fair Weather make their Change, 
in the Open Street, at the eastermost end. In 
the Upper Story are the Council and Assembly 
Chambers. It has a neat Capulo, Sashed all' 
Round, which on rejoycing days is Elluminated." 

The successful and brilliant administration of 
Governor Shirley, noted in Provincial annals for 
the great military expedition, which,, under Gen- 
eral William Pepperrell, (afterwards baronet) 
achieved the conquest of Louisbourg, was the 
first to occupy the restored building. Then came 
in turn the rule of Thomas Pownall and Francis 
Bernard, bearing the King's commission ; which 
carries us down to 1760, when the accession of 
George the Third to the English throne was 



proclaimed "with Beat of Drum and Blast of 
Trumpet from the Balcony under the East Win- 
dow of the Towne-House." From thence we tread 
rapidly the path which brings us to the threshold 
of the Revolution. In 1761 came the famous plea 
of James Otis, jr., in the Representatives' Hall 
of this structure, against the Writs of Assistance, 
followed by numerous manifestations of patriotic 
sentiment, prominent among which stands forth 
the record of the meetings called in Faneuil Hall 
by the colonists, to protest against the passage 
of the Stamp Act, and the imposition of the tax on 
tea. In 1768, a misguided ministry determined 
to over-awe and if possible humiliate the people, 
by quartering a division of the King's soldiery in 
Boston an arbitrary and impolitic act, calculated 
to severely try the loyalty of the Colonists to the 
Cro\yii. 

'^ersistently closing its ears to the indignant 
protests against its action, the Royal government, 
in 176S-69, maintained an attitude of stubborn 
indifference to the petitions of its colonial subjects. 
Landing its regulars at Long Wharf, it took 
measures looking to military occupation, and 
regiment after regiment wearing England's scarlety 
was marched up King street to the encampment 
upon the Common, until in the winter of 1769- 
70, there were four thousand troops of the line 
mustered in the seething town. One regiment 
was quartered in the lower story of the Town- 
house, which was flanked by two pieces of ord- 
nance. So prepared the officers of the Crown 
to uphold King George's sovereignty in restless 
Boston, little recking the ominous portent of the 



8 



storm of popular indignation which was soon des- 
tined to burst upon them. In those eventful days, 
when the narrow streets of the sturdy Puritan town 
echoed daily to the rattle of arms and the music 
of fife and drum, were rapidly germinating the 
seeds of that indomitable spirit of independence, 
destined soon to stand forth in brilliant relief, 
against the great back-ground of the Revolution. 

Upon the evening of March 5, 1770, at eight 
o'clock, the peel of the deep toned bell of the First 
Church rang out upon the frosty air, calling the 
citizens to King street. Even then might the 
great crisis at hand have been averted, by tem- 
perate official measures. England was still the 
country which the colonists called their home, 
and its sovereign, although he had spurned the 
petitions of America, was yet revered. But it 
was not to be. A time had arrived in the affairs 
of New England, which though stormy and trou- 
bled, was yet weighted heavily with its future weal. 
The troops fired upon the people, and the snow 
in front of the Town-house was crimsoned with 
American blood. 

When the smoke of that fatal volley cleared 
away, eleven of the sons of New England were 
seen stretched upon the street. Some, severely 
wounded, were struggling to rise again ; others 
did not stir, for "they were past all pain. Then 
the spirit of the people seemed about to rise 
beyond control. The town drums were beaten. 
The alarm bells rang. An enraged multitude 
rushed into King street, many of them with arms 
in their hands. A large force of British infantry 
was ordered out, in anticipation of attack, and 



more bloodshed was avoided only by the appear- 
ance of Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson, who 
hurried to the spot, and from the balcony of 
the Town-house besought the people to have 
patience, promising that strict justice should be 
done, and thus prevailed upon them to disperse. 

The arraignment before the Court of the Prov- 
ince, of those of the soldiery engaged in the sad 
affair, took place in the Town-House in the 
month of October, 1770; John Adams and Josiah 
Quincy, jr., appearing for the defence. The de- 
cision given was, however, adverse to the anticipa- 
tions of the colonists. Two of the soldiers were 
declared guilty of manslaughter, while the rest, 
with Captain Preston, their commander, were ac- 
quitted. " The trials were far from satisfactory 
to the persecutors," says Hutchinson, in his His- 
tory of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 
"and in a short time a. great part of the peo- 
ple were induced to believe the acquittals unjust, 
and contrary to evidence." However this might 
have been, it is yet plain that the people were by 
no means discouraged thereby in their resolution to 
seek justice from the Crown. The memory of the 
blood wantonly shed in King stre^ was never for- 
gotten nor forgiven. The Boston Massacre passed 
into history,* the smouldering fires of freedom 
blazed into flame, and the illustrious struggle was 
initiated, which was ultimately to sunder England 
forever from her colonies of North America. 

Such, briefly reviewed, to the close of the Provin- 
cial era, is the story of this honourable and sacred 
spot, dear to the memories of all who cherish the 
record of New England's past. Thenceforward, 



10 



through the Revolutionary period, it fitly main^ 
tained its prominence as the palladium of popular 
liberties, and the early seat of the representatives 
of the people. It would be superfluous to recall 
the many historic events in the annals of the Com- 
monwealth of which it was the witness, or to more 
than refer to the auspicious occasions, when the 
great Washington reviewed from its portals the 
triumphant entry of the Continental army upon the 
evacuation of Boston by the British ; or when, on 
July i8, 1776, from the East Window of the Council 
Chamber, the immortal sentences of the august 
Declaration of Independence were first read to the 
citizens of the ancient town. Upon the adoption 
of the State Constitution in 1780, in the Council 
Chamber was officially inaugurated John Hancock, 
the first Governor chosen by the people, and the 
building continued as the seat of Government, under 
its later title of the Old State House, until 1798, 
when the State transferred itsf official residence to 
the present structure upon Beacon Hill. Subse- 
quently it was occupied from 1830 to 1839, by the 
City Government, when the City Hall on School 
street was completed. 

The interior finish has been re-produced from 
the best remaining examples of contemporary 
work, guided by such indications as were found 
in the building. It will be noted that the walls 
of the two great halls, their floors and ceilings, 
had never been altered, except the interior cross- 
wall to each. An old plan, which was fortunately 
recovered, gave the exact line of these walls, 
and fixed the position of the circular stairway. 
But the visitor to-day stands in the very room 



II 



where Adams, Hancock and Otis spoke, and gazes 
through the very windows from which Hutchinson 
and Oliver viewed the patriotic possessions of Bos- 
ton's citizens. 

The duty of maintaining these halls in suitable 
condition, and especially of collecting therein all 
memorials of the past history of the town and city 
of Boston, has been assumed by the Bostonian 
Society. 

It may be proper to say that the assistance of all 
of those who are interested in this work is cordially 
invited by that Society, and that its representatives 
will gladly furnish information in detail to all in- 
quirers. 




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